Friday, August 25, 2017

Zinnias

While most gardeners praise the ease of growing zinnias, I have not enjoyed the same success! I have planted tons of zinnias over the years and they really don't do a lot for me. But I love the flowers! So I keep trying!

This year was the same thing. I planted some in our front yard and David planted more when those did not seem to come up. Neither planting seemed to do much for a loooong time. But finally now during the most intense heat of the summer, these have sprung up! I am so happy to at least have a few popping up that we can cut and enjoy!

2 comments:

Monica, is your soil nice and loose where you are planting? It doesn't have to be deeply loose, just a few inches. Drop the seeds on the ground and cover lightly with soil, no more than an inch covering I would say...

***Also, keep those zinnias when they die. Let them dry out, chop off the flower head and pop them in a bag, label and stick them away for next year. Then rub them between your hands and let the seeds fall into the ground when you are ready to plant. They do extremely well, and even though most packets are fairly cheap, this is even better!***

Water slightly once planted, but because the seeds are so fine you don't have to water them in too heavily. They DO like heat, so a good sunny spot is the best place.

I actually have a blog post about using some of my zinnias coming up next week.

Zinnia's are my favorite to grow. They attract lots of butterflies, it keeping my yard busy with many butterflies flying around. Plant the seed about fourth of a inch deep and lightly cover them, lightly water them each day until the come up. Then water every once in a while. When the seed dries completely, I have found that they keep the best in a paper bag. Store the seeds in a dry place until spring. They love hot weather, if you keep them water from time to time they will look great until frost.